Tom Beaulieu

I don’t have the number for the dredging of the Hay River port, although we do have that number at the department. I don’t have the number here with me. I don’t believe we have a number for all of the dredging that would be required for the entire waterway where the company out of Hay River would haul freight. I don’t have that full number, but I can let the Member know what the number is for dredging the Hay River, our estimate. Also, we can get estimates for other parts of the waterway. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I have. Thank you.

One of the things that I have been discussing with the department has been the value of a retrospective analysis and determining whether or not it is beneficial to do a retrospective analysis. We have a functional bridge that is doing what it’s intended to do. It was built within the allowable budget that was agreed to in the House. We’re looking at that and we’re determining whether or not there is some value. I realize that the Members want to see a retrospective analysis. I am trying to determine whether or not there is some value in that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a few deficiencies on the Deh Cho Bridge that we are continuing to repair. We believe that the bridge is very, very close to addressing all the deficiencies, although we will probably continue to always do a little bit of work on the bridge. After that, my understanding is that there was a commitment to do a retrospective analysis of how the construction of the bridge went. At this point we are looking at the possibility of doing that.

As the Member knows, we’re very approachable; the department is approachable. When we get information from Members, we do try to attend to the areas that are in the worst condition. We know that we don’t have the money to improve every section of that road to what the members of Sahtu would like to see; however, we’re addressing the worst areas.

As I indicated, we’re approachable and we do want to fix the roads to the best of our ability with the money that we have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We have training sessions with the employees on disclosure. We have a Harassment-Free and Respectful Workplace Policy that clarifies personal harassment within the GNWT and the public service. We are trying to let individuals know that if they do disclosure in any of those areas that I spoke of, it would be a safe disclosure.

The only thing we could come up with on why there has been so little uptake is people actually don’t feel safe disclosing with the public service, with their supervisors, management and so on. I too get a lot of calls where I indicate to the people that this is an...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was fortunate to read the letter that was written by one of the members from the Sahtu, indicating how bad the road was and so on. We had not anticipated that the roads were that bad. We thought they would be improving.

When the Member and I drove on it, it was very early and it was rough, but the department considered that it would be improving. We recognize that we do need more money to continue to improve the winter road and that we need more money for watering and more grading cycles to be able to smooth out that road.

At this time we have a contract in place and...

I can’t commit to having the contractors that are hauling contractors attend such a meeting, but what I can commit to is that as they continue to do their reports and giving us good indications of the driving conditions of the road that we will take those reports into consideration during the preconstruction meeting. Thank you.

As I indicated, it would be something that does go through the Occupational Health and Safety Committee. However, I can touch base with the deputy. I believe that Human Resources holds responsibility in the safety area of all employees in the public service. I’ll ensure that I hold discussions with the deputy minister, who in turn will discuss with the other deputies to see what type of safety plans are in place for the safety of our staff across the entire public service not only here in Yellowknife but across the whole territory. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These types of incidents can be brought up to the occupational health and safety committees. Each department has an occupational health and safety committee, so those would be vetted through those committees.